


Small(ish) World

by NightError_145



Series: NieR Pairings fics [3]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family Fluff, Gen, Height change, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Romance, Secretly a writing exercise, idk what im doing anymore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 15:52:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14957577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightError_145/pseuds/NightError_145
Summary: 9S wakes up in his bed with a gap in his memory,  a look around quickly revealing the reason.Put bluntly this is a fic where a handful of scanners will be made shorter(like kid height)(Lol the summary is in a different tense from the actual fic)





	Small(ish) World

       9S’ eyes slowly fluttered open, his head spinning a little.  The last thing he remembered was walking to the Command centre with 2B to speak with the Commander. _What was that talk about again?_ He tried to wrack his brain to figure it out, to no avail.

    The scanner looked around: he was in his room lying down on his bed, head resting on his pillow— _Wait,_ 9S froze up for a second, _isn’t this pillow a bit bigger than usual?_ The boy looked far to his right. Sure enough, the pillow obscured most of his vision. _That’s odd, I didn’t think Command would give me a pillow upgrade._ 9S chuckled a little— _Huh?_ The boy’s laughed sounded far higher-pitched than normal. _I…I must have played around with the voice changer or something,_ 9S reassured himself, _I’ll go ahead and fix it._

    The scanner opened his HUD, went over to his audio settings and—it wasn’t there. _Why isn’t it—_ This didn’t make sense, the scanner closed his HUD quickly sitting up and turning to hop off the bed, _I need to find out what’s going—_ 9S’ legs barely reached the edge of the bed. _M-must have been closer to the edge than I thought…_ the boy pushed themselves off the bed (his arms having to stretch far more than normal), and walked over to Pod 153—the metal box was nearly half his size.

       “Good morning, 9S.” the Pod’s monotone voice made it seem as though nothing was amiss.

       “Pod?” The scanner lifted up a quivering finger and pointed at the metal hull, trying his best not to notice the noticeably higher-pitch of his voice. “Did you get an upgrade or something?”

         At this point 9S already had a feeling he knew what Pod 153 was going to say, but part of him prayed that they didn’t say it—that it was all in his head. A prayer that was smashed as soon as the pod spoke.

       “Unit 9S’ black box data was recently transferred into a smaller body to test field practicality, as well as to lower costs of unit production.” _No way…_ 9S looked down at his body in the small mirror by his drawer, it was indeed smaller, and the proportions made him look even more like a child ( _Wait why did I think I look ‘even more’ like a kid?)_ , his face fit his appearance a bit better at least (though the boy couldn’t help but think it too looked more child-like than it normally did).

      “I see,” The scanner grabbed his visor and tied it around his head, letting the fact sink in, before another thought came into his head: _Maybe this means 2B is smaller as well?_  The theory was sound—a smaller android would mean less resources wasted, and they could also avoid attacks from machines far easier during combat, should their evasive systems ever fail. Indeed, the theory was sound, but it was shattered the second 9S’ partner walked into his room.

     “9S, the Commander wants to see us.” 9S thought 2B towered over him before, but now the height difference was almost terrifying: the top of the boy’s head barely reached her lower ribs, leaving his eye level, uncomfortably close to— _No, not going there. 2B would kill me._

     “9S?” The woman’s voice snapped the boy out of his trance.

     “Y-Y-Yes, I-I’m coming!” 2B’s lip seemed to upturn just slightly at the scanner’s reaction, but 9S couldn’t get a good enough look before it fell flat again, and followed the Battle unit as she turned and walked out of the room.

       The scanner had always found it somewhat difficult to keep up with his partner (she was a combat model after all), but he was normally able to catch up to her **eventually**. Being the size he was now however, made any complaints he had before about 2B’s speed seem petty in comparison. Despite the woman only doing a somewhat fast walk, 9S was practically running in order to keep pace with her steps—sticking as far forward as he could to avoid looking at her…posterior. When they reached the command centre, 9S felt like he knew why they had made his body a smaller size: the Commander was a **lot** scarier at this height, and the whip she held at her side was nearly as large as himself.

     “Ah, I see you’re finally up, 9S.” the commander smirked, 9S half-expected her to say something stupid like: ‘Enjoying the view?’ or ‘How’s it going down there?’ Instead, she apologized to him. “I’m sorry if your memories didn’t transfer perfectly into the new body. The process is a bit new after all.”

     “Oh, it’s no problem Commander.” The boy still hadn’t gotten used to the pitch of his voice, “It threw me off at first though.”

     “I don’t doubt it.” She looked up to 2B, “You two will be going down to the surface shortly to speak with Anemone, communications went out again recently, and the majority of our forces are currently either busy with other missions, or in maintenance.” She paused, looking back down to the scanner “And the some of our active scanners are also being outfitted similarly to yourself, 9S. So don’t think you’re the only one who’s having these sorts of changes done. “

      “Understood, Commander.” the white-haired woman turned around and headed for the elevator back up, forcing 9S to run after her so he didn’t get left behind. As they started out of the door into the main corridor, the two were stopped by the voice of an excited girl.

      “2B! I heard that you’re going down to the surface soon and I was hoping—“the owner of the voice stopped mid-sentence, gasping. No sooner had 9S turned to face her that he found himself being hoisted up like a cat or stuffed animal. “He’s soooooooo cute~!!!!!!!”

      6O wrapped the scanner up in a tight hug, rubbing her head against his hair. 9S was so unsure of what was happening that he didn’t start blushing until almost 10 seconds had passed. 2B also looked very unsure of the situation, as she just stood motionless with her mouth slightly open.

      “6O, you shouldn’t put too much stress on 9S right before a mission.” 21O’s voice came as a welcome sound to 9S, especially as he felt 6O relinquish her grip on him.

     “Sorry, 21O! I didn’t expect to see 9S look like this, and I guess his cuteness was just too much!” For some reason, the boy swore 2B seemed to react a little at the word: ‘cuteness’.

     “Please try to refrain from doing something that reckless again in the future.” The blonde let out a sigh, before focussing her attention on 9S. “Are you feeling alright, 9S? Do any of your systems feel off?”

      The concern in his Operator’s voice went seemingly unnoticed by the two girls, but 9S picked up the difference in tone immediately, _Operator…you were worried about me?_

      “I’m fine. I got a bit scared when everything looked bigger, but all my systems seem to be working perfectly.” The boy waved off the question.

       “I see, that’s good.” 21O walked up to 9S, before leaning down and whispering into his ear. “While you’re down there, I have some things I’d like you to retrieve.” She took his right hand and placed a scrap of paper in its palm before closing it using her other hand. “Collect them discretely, if you can; the Commander will be sending down flight units later to collect some parts from the Resistance, put them on the flight unit labelled for the smaller parts. Don’t tell 2B about it either.”

       9S gave a slightly confused look from behind his visor as the woman stood up and headed for the command centre. 6O gave an apologetic smile to 9S and waved goodbye as she followed suit. 9S looked briefly at the note placed in his hands: ‘ ~~children’s storybook~~ fiction novel, small blanket, a small stuffed animal’. 9S furrowed his brow at the list, _What does she need a stuffed animal for?_ 21O normally asked for 9S to take pictures of human-related objects when he wasn’t busy with a mission, but to ask him for these kinds of items to be delivered to the Bunker seemed—odd. The novel he kind of understood—there weren’t any good copies of old human stories in the database—but the blanket? And the stuffed animal? Those sounded a bit unnecessary. _Oh well, she did ask me to get them, no point in worrying about it._

       “What did she say to you?” 9S jumped a little, scrambling to hide the note. He had completely forgotten 2B was with him.

        “U-Um, She—uh, said to be careful?” _Wow, great job Nines, you somehow managed to say the worst lie in history._

        “I see, if it was something private I won’t invade.” 2B began towards the hangar, “Let’s get going.”

          “Right!” 9S ran to catch up with her.

 

     The descent to the surface was certainly…interesting. Due to 9S’ smaller size, they had added a smaller compartment in the back of 2B’s flight unit, with an additional space for the scanner’s pod. The modification was far from pleasant, as 9S was pretty much facing the sky during the majority of the ride, his only way to help deal with the machines being his pod’s weaponry, which had become heavily impaired due to the nature of the module. The worst part of the trip down, however, had to be the constant spinning from the flight unit as 2B aimed to take out incoming machines while in mobile configuration; 9S felt like he was going to hurl by the time the spinning stopped. Upon landing, 2B hopped down out of the flight unit, before walking around back to assist the scanner get out of his module, which had been jammed in the same position since take-off.

       The two of them realized very quickly just how much 9S’ new height damaged their ability to move on the surface: when jumping from the building they had landed on, 9S fell a good 10 metres behind 2B; in addition, the already established issue of speed came right back at full force. While it had been tolerable in the Bunker (2B had no reason to sprint there), the need to get to the camp as quickly as possible was now being severely hindered because of it. When they had travelled about a quarter of the way to the camp, 2B slowed to a stop, clearly annoyed.

        “9S,” her voice started sharp, but quickly softened as she looked down at the scanner.

        “I’m really sorry that I can’t keep up, 2B!” the boy bowed his head slightly, “My legs aren’t long enough to go as fast as you…”

          2B crossed her arms, looking rather deep in thought, before letting out a sigh and kneeling down in front of 9S so the two of them were pretty much at eye level.

       “It can’t be helped then,” the girl said, “get on my back.”

     “Huh?” 9S looked over the battle unit, getting a bit distracted by how close her face was to his own.

         “Go ahead, 9S, hop on.” The scanner was snapped from his trance by the girl’s words.

           “O-Okay!” blushing slightly, the scanner climbed onto the 2B’s back, wrapping his arms around her front as best he could, his head resting atop her shoulder. As she stood up, her arms hooked under 9S’ legs securing him in place, and she began moving again.

          .

          2B let him off the minute they reached the area outside the camp. This made 9S frown a little—he had actually started enjoying his spot on her back, not that he was going to tell her that. When the two of them entered the camp, they were quickly met with stares, primarily from the other YoRHa troops resting there.  9S subconsciously hid behind 2B, not realizing it until the woman reacted.

       “9S?” the boy flushed red, and quickly removed himself from 2B’s side, placing a comfortable distance between the two of them. In doing so, ended up attracting the attention of the two camp medics.

       “Hiya, 2B.” Devola waved at the white-haired girl, Popola also waving quietly by her side.

       “Hello, Devola, Popola.” 2B approached them, 9S following behind her. Popola looked quizzically at him as he did.

        “Are you 2B’s new partner?” She bent down slightly to look at him, offering a small smile in the process.

        “Um…I’m 9S, Popola. The Commander had me placed in a smaller body for testing purposes.” The boy scratched the back of his head, while both of the twins stared at him wide-eyed.

         “I—I see…” Popola cast a worried look down to 9S, “Are you fine being like that?”’

        “I mean, it **is** a bit impractical from my perspective,” the scanner admitted, “but it isn’t anything that I can’t deal with.”    

         “Alright, then…Just—be careful okay, 9S?” Devola placed a hand on her twin’s shoulder, sighing as she did.

         “You don’t need to baby him all the time, Popola.” Devola smirked at the scanner, “Even I can tell he’s still as stubborn as he’s always been.”

         “D-Devola!” The straight-haired twin flushed slightly, causing 9S to tilt his head to the side. “A-anyways, we shouldn’t distract you any longer. Good luck with your mission!”

        Popola walked away from the two YoRHa androids, Devola turning to follow her. The remaining twin looked back and gave a nod to 2B, before winking at 9S—who blushed at the gesture—and taking off after her sister. 2B began walking towards Anemone’s desk, 9S hurrying to catch up.

***

The Resistance leader had reacted in much the same way to the medics (though she had picked up on the fact that the small scanner was 9S far quicker), but quickly regained focus. Anemone told the two of them that the Resistance’s communication array was currently down, and gave 9S a list of items to find for the repairs.

 As they left the camp, 2B crouched down once again, making the scanner jump back a bit in shock, before remembering they had agreed to have her carry him for time’s sake whenever heading for a destination. No sooner had the boy clambered onto 2B’s back, the girl took off at top speed towards the first area marked off by their pods.

 

   Combat was surprisingly easier for 9S, his smaller size made many of the hostile machines ignore him, heading instead for 2B, and giving him ample opportunity to hack them. When machines did attack him, evasion was far quicker, and he had a much greater capability to counter certain attacks. Of course, he was no longer able to use larger swords in combat, as his body was too small to practically carry them. Spears were also out of the question, and even combat bracers were a tad too unwieldy for 9S.  In exchange for these sacrifices however, he had far more possible combos to execute with his pod, given his smaller weight.  One which he mastered fairly quickly involved 153 grabbing him by the sides and throwing him up so he could strike down on machines with his sword. There was even some attacks he managed to pull off with 2B’s help; she would grab him by the collar, and throw him at some of the smaller machines (he felt confused emotions over being treated like this). 

    After defeating several machines and collecting the necessary parts, 9S noticed a small plastic crate in one of the buildings.

  “Huh, that’s odd.” The boy approached the chest (which was nearly his size), “Normally any plastic artifacts this big are burnt.”

   He grabbed the top lip of the box, and pulled up, 2B watching with an invisible curiosity. The crate’s contents consisted mostly old colouring books, and children’s toys. Two items in particular caught 9S’ attention: a plush squirrel and a blanket covered in an acorn pattern. _That’s what 21O was asking for, right?_  He reached around for his pack (which now took up his entire back), and placed the items in it. The action made 2B question the boy.

  “What do you need those for?” 9S jumped at her words.

  “U-um, no real reason! They just looked interesting!” the girl appeared to narrow her eyes at the scanner from behind her visor, before shrugging and turning to leave. “Ah! Wait up, 2B!”

 ***

   After giving all the parts to Anemone, the woman asked them to help move some supplies onto the flight units when they arrived outside of the camp. While 2B was busy helping lift some of the packages onto the trucks, 9S spoke with Anemone.

   “Hey, Anemone, do you have any old novels you’re done reading?” he kept his voice low enough so that 2B wouldn’t overhear.

   “Hmm, I’m pretty sure I have one lying around that I finished a few weeks ago.” She gave the boy a quizzical look, “Why do you need it though?”

   “Oh…” he paused trying to think of a good excuse, “um…”

   “It’s something private, huh? I won’t pry too much then, I was just a little curious is all.” Anemone smiled and waved her hand dismissively. “Give me a sec.”

  She walked off to where 9S assumed was her living quarters, returning around 5 minutes later and handing him a book titled: _Journey to The Centre of the Earth_. The scanner grabbed the novel and stuffed it into his backpack. He thanked her and headed towards 2B, who was tapping her foot impatiently beside the truck.

   ***

After a short escort of the truck to the designated loading zone, 2B and 9S began offloading the supplies onto the modified flight units—9S placing the items 21O requested with the smaller supplies. After the two had finished the process and the flight units took off, 9S turned to 2B.

    “Hey, 2B?” he began, “You’ve really worked hard so far today, so I was thinking maybe you should take a break at the camp?”

    “Hmm…” the girl looked out over the grassy centre of the city, “Alright. I don’t see any harm in it, let’s go.”

    “Okay, 2B!” 9S’ face lit up as suddenly had an idea, “Hey, 2B? Why don’t we race back to camp? Oh! But you need to give me a head start!”

     “Wh—“before 2B could say anything to retort the scanner’s suggestion, he had already started running at top speed towards the camp.  “Wait a second, 9S!”

     By the time 2B had managed to catch up with the boy, they were right outside the resistance camp.

***

    When 9S transferred his data back up to the Bunker, he suddenly found himself being rather tired. A yawn escaped him—which was surprising considering yawning wasn’t supposed to be something he could do involuntarily.

    “Is everything alright?” 2B asked the scanner rubbing his eyes through his visor.

   “Yeah, just a bit tired is all.” 9S waved off the B model’s concern, “It’s probably from trying to get used to using this body, I’m sure it will go away after a while.”

   “Hmm,” 2B pursed her lips, _Wait, is 2B actually worried about me? Like, **actually**? _ “Alright then, I’ll go speak with 6O, she may want me to do while I’m on the surface.”

   “Okay, see you around 2B!” the boy waved happily at his partner, who gave a slight nod and the raise of a hand in return. _Now then, I should probably go see 21O._ He began walking towards his operator’s room, only to notice her in front of his room instead.

     “Ah, 9S.” the woman seemed empty-handed save the small novel which Anemone had given the scanner before returning to the Bunker. “Welcome back. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience—“

        “Operator, I was more than happy to help, and I’m sorry I can’t stay and chat longer, but I’m really tired.” 9S interrupted the blonde mid-sentence, before walking past her and into his room.

         His eyes widened slightly at the sight on his bed: the blanket and squirrel plush he had collected on the surface both sat on top of the mattress. The boy turned to look back at 21O, raising an eyebrow in the process.

        “I had someone help me retrieve the items, if that’s what you’re wondering.” The woman sighed as she walked into the room. “Though I assume that isn’t what you’re curious about.”

       The little scanner shook his head, the door to his room closing as he did. 21O seemed to stiffen a bit as the metal touched the floor, before speaking again.

       “I was curious about…seeing what it would be like to be a part of a familial unit.” A hint of nervousness crept into her voice, which 9S was hardly able to pick up on. “I was wondering if you would be fine in assisting me in trying to attempt such a unit.”

      “Um, I’m fine with it, I guess…” The boy scratched at his cheek, “As long as it isn’t too taxing on me at least.”

       His Operator’s eyes lit up a small amount, and her body relaxed.

       “Thank you, I promise it won’t be difficult,” 21O walked over to the bed, patting the surface in a gesture which was rather uncharacteristic for the woman. “Lie down like you normally would to go into rest mode.”

       “Really?” the scanner’s eyes widened behind his visor, “Alright then.”

       9S clambered onto the bed, getting himself into a position where his head lay on the pillow, facing the ceiling. 21O reached for the blanket lying next to him, before draping it over the scanner’s small body.

      “Huh?!” 9S was a little surprised by the action, which made the operator pause. “Operator, what are you doing?”

      “I’m ‘tucking you in’.” she replied very matter-of-factly, “This was a human ritual normal conducted by parents for their children in order to ensure they would be comfortable during sleep.”

      “Oh, I see—Hey! Why am I the kid here?!” the scanner pouted.

      “You are approximately the size of most human children at the moment. Plus,” the boy swore he saw her smirk behind the veil. “I’m older than you by a good 34 years, which is roughly the age of many human mothers. I think this arrangement is perfect.”

     “Ughhh…” 9S rolled his eyes and sighed, “Fiiine.”

      21O finished pulling the blankets over him and placed the squirrel beside his head (which—although he didn’t say it—he actually liked), before pulling up a chair beside the head of the bedside and opening up the novel Anemone had given the scanner earlier.

      “Oh!” 9S’ eyes lit up behind his visor upon realizing what his operator had planned, “Are you going to read that to me?”

       “Yes, that was my intention,” She moved her eyes down to the pages, “Humans seemed to enjoy hearing stories read to them in order to create a better mental image of the setting. Children also appeared to like having stories read to them since many had words which they could not read.”

       “Hey, I can read!” the boy pouted again, making 21O stifle a laugh.

        “I never said anything about you not being able to read 9S, nor was I implying anything of the sort.” _Okay, she’s **definitely** smirking now. _“Anyways, you should relax—I’m about to read until you fall asleep.”

      “You’ll stop reading so I don’t miss anything, you mean?”

       “Precisely.” 21O pointed at the boy’s head, “Speaking of which, you should take off your visor so I can actually tell when you fall asleep.”

       9S obeyed, removing the black fabric from his head, and revealing the blue orbs behind it. 21O relaxed into her seat once again, and began reading.

     “’Chapter 1…’” As the woman read, the boy slowly found himself drifting off further and further into sleep, until he finally entered rest mode, chest rising and falling slowly.

     21O closed the book and kneeled by the edge of the bed, smiling softly behind her veil.

     “Goodnight, 9S.” she rubbed his hair affectionately.

     To her surprise, he actually seemed to lean into the touch--mumbling something which almost made the woman freeze.

   “Goodnight, Mom…”

**Author's Note:**

> Idk where I got this idea.
> 
> Probably after writing the last fic with 21O as 9S' mom...or something 
> 
> There's gonna be at least 2 more chapters of this stuff so...strap in I guess...
> 
> Next chapter: 4S' side


End file.
